On Friday, May 6, the U.S. government froze the bank accounts of Hatem Abudayyeh and his wife, Naima. The Committee to Stop FBI Repression said in a release:
This unwarranted attack on a leading member of the Palestinian community in Chicago is the latest escalation of the repression of anti-war and Palestinian community organizers...
Hatem was born in Chicago, and runs a network of youth centers and other social services centers.
Hatem Abudayyeh is one of 23 activists from Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in Chicago, and his home was raided by the FBI in September of last year, with some raids conducted with guns drawn. Neither Hatem Abudayyeh nor Naima Abudayyeh have been charged with any crime. Although the administration says it is looking for evidence of funds being transferred to groups on the State Department's terrorist list, Hatem denies this is taking place. The activists, who are refusing to comply with the subpoena's say these are "McCarthyesque witch hunts," say they are being targeted for their defense of Palestinian rights.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky has written a letter of concern to Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, also joined by Congressman David Price of North Carolina:
I am writing to convey concerns raised with me regarding the September 24, 2010 FBI raids that targeted peace and anti-war activists in Chicago and Minneapolis. These raids have been accompanied by the issue of subpoenas of at least 23 citizens of Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan, requiring them to testify before a grand jury.
Hatem is an outspoken critic of US policy with respect to Israel-Palestine, and wrote of the Netanyahu government in 2009 that it:
...represents what will be undoubtedly be a continuation of previous policies of ‘population transfer’ and forced exile, a government determined policy to push more and more Palestinians off their land in the 1948 territories as well as the West Bank and Gaza. There are also dozens of laws in the 1948 territories that explicitly and clearly discriminate against the Palestinians who live there, especially in the criminal justice system, but also in regards to civil restrictions on buying land, building on already owned property, and even marriage.
A Huffington Post article after the FBI raids last year says:
The federal attention has unnerved him, he says, in part because refusal to testify could lead to jail time. Even his 5-year-old is unsettled by memories of the FBI's dawn raid. "To this day, she still jumps into my or my wife's arms when she hears a loud wrap on the door,"
Video of Twin Cities raids last year: